


Mistress of Puppets

by Darktopaz84



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Puppet Master (Movies)
Genre: Angel helps, BAMF Willow, Gen, New puppets, Season 1 of Buffy, Starts midseason, Takes places during Puppet Master 2, Unreliable updates, Willow has voices in her head
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:07:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27473251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darktopaz84/pseuds/Darktopaz84
Summary: After the death of a family friend Willow finds herself in possession of an infamous hotel and a set of truly independent puppets. As long as her predecessor doesn't kill her first, she should be able to handle this. Of course, the voice in her head may be an ongoing issue but with everything else, she has seen since meeting Buffy what's a few new personality traits.
Kudos: 1





	Mistress of Puppets

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Mutant Enemy and Puppet Master belongs to Full Moon

Chapter one: Booking the gig  
Willow watched the delivery men in shock as she watched them bring in several crates. She barely listened to the lawyer as he explained that she had been left a large inheritance by Megan Gallagher who had been a family friend. She was still in a daze as she shut the door after them wondering why someone she only met during the summer would leave her not only her family’s inn but several crates of antiques. She sat down and pulled out an envelope that had been included.  
Willow,  
I know that this must come as a surprise to you but I beg that you read this with an open mind. Even as I write this I don’t know why I chose you but I could think of no one else I could trust with this. To fully understand what is going on I am going to have to go back to the end of World War 2 when a famous puppeteer made the Bodega Bay Inn his home. His name was Andre Toulan he was known as the puppet master he was renowned for his stingless puppets that moved as though they had a life of their own. The thing is that they did live; Toulan had mastered the ability to bring inanimate objects to life. My late husband destroyed my family in the hopes of gaining his secrets and in turn immortality, now I am facing the rise of another such threat. So if anything happens to me everything that is associated with puppets. Save the puppets themselves are to be sent to you. I have included three puppets I commissioned to be animated by my husband’s former associates and victims; I will leave their completion to you. Toulon's puppets are desperate they are running out of formula and I cannot bring myself to collect the ingredients needed to make more. I have included the apparatus that makes the formula so they will come for it and you.  
Good Luck,  
Megan Gallagher  
  
Willow set aside the letter and started to go through the rest of the papers that outlined the trust that had been set up to manage the hotel and distribute her remaining possessions. Willow could only sit in shock for a moment as she tried to digest everything that she had just read. If this had happened a year ago she wouldn’t have believed it, but the one thing that her friendship with Buffy has taught her was that anything is possible. Willow set the paperwork aside promising herself that she would contact her parent's lawyer about them and moved over to the trunk. She slowly started to undo the straps. As she eased it open, the first thing she noticed was a taxidermy dog with a squashed face. Her attention was then drawn down to the chest’s other occupants the puppets. The most unusual was a blue, silver, and white female figure it had silver hair, white skin, and a blue evening gown. The second female was vine covered girl with long black hair and tan skin. The sole male figure brought to mind the image of an aristocratic rogue with two swords. Willow then noticed a journal tucked in behind the dog. She gingerly picked the poor thing up and set it aside so she could pull the book out.  
She sat down intending to only skim through it only to find herself absorbed. She read the life story of first a showman who was madly in love with his wife whom he had shared a life with before she was murdered. Willow found herself holding her breath as she read about how he had gotten revenge against the Nazis that was responsible and escaped to America with his secrets. Which were then described in detail in the book not only the ability to animate but also numerous other potions and spells that would do a showman in good stead. Towards the end of the book, she found references to other documents hidden in the trunk she got up intending to look for them only to realize that night had fallen. She only spared a thought to how long she had been reading, before what she had read started to fill her mind with possibilities. She would admit later that she barely considered getting another opinion before she animated the dog she was just too excited. She gingerly lifted the thing and set it on the coffee table where she quickly laid out the syringe, vial, and book turned to the appropriate page. Following the instructions, she injected the formula into the dog’s chest. She waited with bated breath for the first sign of life from the dog; it must have been the longest minute and a half of her life.  
Even though she was expecting it she jumped when the dog stood up and shook itself. As she reached out and gingerly ran her fingers down the dog's ears only to gasp as the dog leaped into her lap where it immediately planted its paws on her chest and started to bathe her face. She laughed as she held the newly animated dog away from her. The possibilities that this presented raced through her mind as she clutched the dog to her. But there had to be drawbacks she needed to see just how well this imitated life. She was going to need a second opinion.  
Angel was doing his usual patrol route when he saw Willow. She was walking quickly toward the high school carrying a bag that seemed to be squirming. He moved towards her making sure to make enough noise so as not to startle her. But she still whirled around and clutched the bag to her chest as though you’d have to break her fingers to get it away. And oddly enough the bag began to whine.  
“Willow, what are you doing out here?” he asked.  
“I need to talk to Giles.” She stated defensively.  
“I thought he was out of town?” Angel asked as he eyed her bag.  
“I forgot,” Willow said sheepishly as turned back the way she came only to pause. “Angel you know a lot about the occult and what has happened in the past right?”  
“I think so.” He replied cautiously.  
“Have you ever heard about someone known as the Puppet Master?” she asked.  
“Where did you hear that name?” asked as he grabbed her elbow and turned her towards him.  
“Not out here,” Willow stated. “Let’s head to my house.” She added with a tilt of her head. They quickly headed in that direction of her house.  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
It took them about an hour to reach her house with her issuing an absent-minded invitation to Angel. The first thing that Angel noticed when he entered the living room was the large packing crate and associated materials. “Willow what is all of this?” he asked as he gestured to the litter scattered around the living room.  
“A friend of my family has died recently.” Willow explained, “She left me everything including this.” Willow stated as she brought over the Journal for Angel to look at. She didn’t relinquish it but held it so that he could read the cover where the name Andre Toulan was embossed in gold.  
“The Puppet Master,” Angel stated as he moved to take the book from Willow only to have her pull it away and move over to where she had placed her bag down, which was now wiggling around. Willow set the book aside and opened up the bag pulling a Pekinese out of it.  
“This is Leroy,” Willow stated as she put the dog on the table and directed it towards him. “Notice anything weird about him.”  
Angel just stared down at the dog letting his sense honed into the little body the dog now free of the bag promptly curled up and went to sleep. It took him a moment to recognize what was happening since it was just so strange. “He doesn’t have a heartbeat. Instead, there is this clanking noise. And the blood sounds….thick.”  
“Leroy was taxidermied years ago. He was the first puppet Megan, the friend that sent me all this, animated.” Willow explained. “According to her will, I inherited everything: the title, methods, instructions, and her family’s hotel.” She laid back on the couch suddenly exhausted by the whole thing and wanting nothing more than crawl into bed and cry her eyes out, but until she figured out what to do with the Puppet Master’s legacy. “What am I going to do?” she asked.  
“Your first step is hiding the more occult looking things before your parents come home,” Angel replied as he started to put the thing back in the trunk. “Then we are going to go get some pet supplies so we can pass Leroy off as a real dog.” the little dog barking at the sound of his name.  
“Angel, Toulan’s puppet’s killed, Megan,” Willow stated as she looked up at the dark vampire.  
“Why?”  
“She refused to make the animating serum and they’ll come for me next.”  
“Then we better get ready.”  
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
It was nearly dawn when Willow finally got to bed after cleaning and organizing Megan’s things so that the more dangerous items with tucked away while the more innocent items were displayed. Angel had also made a phone call and a rather leathery-looking man dropped off some pet supplies. A set of dog dishes, some toys, brushes, leash, collar, and dog bed which Leroy ignored in favor of her bed. That kind of made her queasy when she remembers what exactly the playful pup was, so she tried not to think about it. As she laid there in bed she thought back to what she knew of the people who had held the title of Puppet Master and if she was joining their ranks or was she just a place holder.  
Dream sequence  
Willow knew she was dreaming it wasn’t the fact that the place she found herself couldn’t exist outside of a movie set or that she was dressed in something that she couldn’t even identify. It was the fact that she was staring at Megan Gallagher and her husband. Alongside them was a stately European gentleman with black and gray hair with a pointed goatee and mustache and a line of Egyptian style priests whose robes were lined with glyphs that resembled some of the ones he had seen in Giles books.  
“Welcome Willow” Megan greeted.  
“Hello, Meg umm who are your friends and where are we?” Willow asked.  
“Your mindscape my dear,” The gentlemen with the goatee explained. “We are the Puppet Masters of the past.”  
“Your location on the Hellmouth has allowed the more demonic portion of our power to come to play.” Gallagher picked up.  
“Magic always has a price, in the case of our gifts it is a piece of our soul and consciousness that is taken and held.” One of the priests continued.  
“Your circumstance of not only being near the Hellmouth but being born and raised here has allowed you to access the knowledge and parts of us that were left behind after our passing.” Megan finished.  
“Unlike all of us you have the enviable privilege of getting tutelage from every master that has come before you.” Gallagher enthused throwing his arms wide.  
“Ok, where do we start?” Willow asked.  
“You wake up the rest of the puppets.” One of the priests intoned.


End file.
